


Pursuit

by Krahka



Category: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Genre: Gen, fight fight fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-27
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-17 05:58:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1376422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krahka/pseuds/Krahka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bounty hunter chases down a thief, but her target isn't going down that easy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pursuit

**Author's Note:**

> Zagora belongs to http://chissexual.tumblr.com/.

Ever since the Imperial treasury job, Cargryph’s life became thick with bounty hunters. Sure, they were a fact of life for anyone who didn’t care what other people thought, especially what powerful people with a lot of money thought, but the Empire didn’t exactly appreciate robbers coming in and crashing their economy in one brazen swoop, and they were willing to pay what money they had left to bring the mastermind of the robbery to justice. Funny how Cargryph was so often on the other side of “justice.”

The rest of them decided to lie low, but not Cargryph. If she was going to have more money than the Force, she intended to spend it in style. No better place to do that than on Zeltros, the self-proclaimed pleasure planet of the galaxy. The prostitutes here were willing to do anything to help a girl have a good time, especially if this girl had some cash on her, and enough rounds of sabbac and she’d either double or lose her entire fortune. She always won. After all, she always cheated.

The people in this cantina were beginning to suspect her winning streak. She was already ready to leave for the next one before the bouncers caught on when Zagora came by.

Ever since becoming the Empire’s most wanted, she’d started doing her research on the big name bounty hunters, and Zagora was one of the biggest. Rumor had it that she was some SIS project gone rogue. Rumor also had it that she took in her last bounty wearing absolutely nothing but her cybernetics and her muscular good looks. Today she was wearing her armor. Shame. She was looking forward to fending off a strong young woman bent solely on her capture.

The patrons and employees of the bar split to avoid her and to avoid the inevitable confrontation that’d ensue. Cargryph just kept her cool and kept on drinking. When she caught eye contact with Zagora, she gave her best, most disarming smile.

“Zagora! Hadn’t expected such a pretty bounty hunter comin’ after little old me.”

Zagora seemed unimpressed. They always were at first. “Cargryph. I knew that following the trail of sliced sabbac consoles would lead me here. Now, unless you want me to bash in those shiny teeth of yours, I suggest you come with me, no funny business.”

Cargryph just laughed. “You’re cute, you know that? I like tough women in armor. They’re my favorites.”

“Don’t even try it.”

“You don’t even have time for a drink? Because you know I’m not the kind of girl who goes down easy.”

Zagora chuckled. “I’ve heard differently. From you. Right now.”

“Oof! You wound me, madame!” Cargryph raised up her hand to call for the bartender. “Oh barkeep! Some Corellian brandy for me and my lovely lady enemy.”

“Right away,” the bartender said, a bottle of Corellian brandy already in hand. “In fact, so right away that it’s right now!” He poured them both a glass.

Cargryph clapped excitedly at this and gave him a tip. “Aren’t Zeltrons the best?” Zagora sniffed the drink suspiciously. “Don’t worry, I didn’t put any poisons in them, besides, I don’t know anything that you wouldn’t just filter out anyway. We’re doing this like gentleladies. A drink, then we take this outside and whoever has the quickest blaster, wins. No tricks, no funny business. I stake my fortune on it.”

“And I should believe this . . . why?”

She put down a credit chip on the table. “Here. This is my part of the pot. I’ll get it back once I beat you. Or you beat me and you get a little extra for your payday. Now drink, and be merry!”

Zagora eyed the chip and finally determining that it wasn’t some sort of bomb, put it in her pocket and took a drink.

“There you go!” Cargryph cheered. “See, we’re settling this like gentleladies already.” Cargryph took a nice long sip of her own drink.

“Say,” the Mirialan said. “You ever heard the story of Zayne Carrick and Marn Heirogryph?”

“They’re the ones your name comes from, right? They said it was an alias.”

“You’ve done your research on me, but what about them? Got framed for crimes they didn’t commit; fought off the whole Jedi Order after them!”

“You saying that you were framed for the heist? Because I don’t believe that for a minute and I don’t even care.”

Cargryph didn’t answer Zagora and continued with her story. “Their masters were all seers, Jedi who could see the future. They saw that one of their Padawans, or someone who looked like one of their Padawans, or had been in contact with one of their Padawans would bring back the Sith. This was all during the Mandalorian Wars. What they saw was Darth Malak. What they did was murder their apprentices.”

Zagora tapped her fingers and finished her drink. “Does this story have a point to it, or are you just . . .”

Having stalled enough and got the hunter’s focus off her hands, Cargryph fired off two quick shots at the weak point in Zagora’s armor, at the kneecaps, bolted up and ran as fast as she could. Zagora swore profusely at the Mirialan in many different languages, stumbled for a bit with the pain in her knees and ran after her.

Cargryph pulled up her scarf and tried to disappear into the crowd of red Zeltron citizens, who all sensed that there was someone here in a panic, which set off a panic in the empathic crowd to make it stop. Zagora bashed through the crowd, searching for the thief with the orange eyes with her own cybernetic eye. She fired off a few warning shots into the air, which caused the crowd to scatter, leaving Cargryph exposed.

Cargryph kept running even as she lost her cover, and started her search for a new place to hide. She fired off her grappling hook at one of the terraces and pulled herself up to the rooftops. Zagora followed in hot pursuit with her jetpack. Cargryph swore to herself, stupid, of course a bounty hunter would have a jetpack.

The bounty hunter was gaining on her, flying fast through the air towards her bounty. Cargryph stopped suddenly and threw herself on the ground as Zagora kept her momentum and zoomed straight past her. The momentary pause gave her time to pull up her blast shield and take some shots. She fired off her pistols at Zagora’s jetpack, hoping to disable it and send her falling. She hit one of the jets, but she turned around in time for the other shot to hit on her armor.

Zagora found her footing on the rooftop that Cargryph landed on and began to set off her flamethrower. Cargryph ducked behind her cover and let the fire go past her, but it singed her hair.

“Oh, now you’re gonna get it!” Cargryph said once the flamethrowing was done. “You ruined my hair!” She unleashed a volley of blaster bolts at her armored pursuer.

“And you keep dinging my armor!” Zagora replied, as most of the shots went off of her shields, but some of them hit at her armor. They did leave a scratch, but Cargryph just assumed that the scratches were just there on purpose. Something she could laugh about with all the other bounty hunters at their bounty hunting meets.

Zagora kept advancing as Cargryph kept retreating. They jumped from rooftop to rooftop as blaster bolts and fire flew everywhere. Cargryph would land a good shot past Zagora’s shields and Zagora’s fire would leave a decent burn on Cargryph but overall it seemed to be a stalemate between the galaxy’s greatest bounty hunter and the galaxy’s greatest thief.

“You know, there was a point to that story!” Cargryph said, firing off a charged blast at Zagora.

“Besides stalling, you mean,” Zagora replied as she sent a rocket flying at Cargryph.

Cargryph ducked down and let her shield take the brunt of the rocket. “I’ve learned a lot from Zayne Carrick and Marn Heirogryph,” she said. She looked up at the sky expectantly.

“Great, you’re learning from dead people, good for you,” Zagora said sarcastically, coming in and waiting for Cargryph to stand still enough to be carbonized.

A ship flew above and Cargryph flinged out her grappling hook and stuck herself to the underside of the ship.

“Yep, I learned that there’s always an out!” She pulled herself up and the ship flew away, Zagora shooting at the figure the whole time.

“This isn’t over, Cargryph, or whoever you are!” Zagora yelled at the sky as she flew away.

It’d be easy to find her again. Just follow the trail of sliced sabbac consoles.


End file.
